HookedOnPlants

When getting hooked is a good thing

oil free

Cacao RawNola | Raw Vegan

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Stop what you’re doing. Make this now. Thank me later.

Too demanding? It’s worth it.

This stuff should be illegal, it’s so good. Not to mention it’s simplicity. Raw food for dummies, people!

If you’re new to the raw food world, and this happens to be the first raw recipe you make, you’ll be hooked.

Move over cookie dough… there’s a new guy in town.

This time it’s healthy, and dare I say… tastier.

Sprinkle this on your thick and creamy smoothie bowl or banana ice cream… or you could even top your Jules Fuel with some of this sweetness!

Are mornings allowed to taste this good????

Yes. Yes they are.

This recipe is inspired by Loni Jane (thank you girl!)

Granolas these days… usually they’re packed with oil and refined sugars.

With this RawNola, the nutrients are still in tact without the disturbance of heat, plus there’s no refined sugar, it’s fat-free, vegan (of course), and SO EASY.

Benefits:

  • Dates are one of those ingredients… just too good to be true. They’re naturally sweet, gooey and delicious. Plus, they’re packed with fibre, minerals and vitamins. Yup, nutrient-dense powerhouses that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating, even though they taste so sinful! Want more? They’re packed with iron to help with anemia, they keep you regular, their amino acids help digestion, and their potassium reduces the risk of strokes.
  • Oats are fibre-rich to lower cholesterol and trigger to let your brain know you’re full. The manganese boost will help with anxiety. The antioxidants will combat cardiovascular disease. Oats will also help balance your blood sugar levels. Opt for the gluten-free version if you’re gluten-sensitive.
  • Coconut is packed with heart healthy omega medium-chain saturated fats are used by the body efficiently and transformed into energy. It’s also antibacterial and anti-inflammatory to decrease bacterial overgrowth, and inflammation in the body.

CACAO RAWNOLA 

Time: 5 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup raw oats (gluten-free if needed)
  • 1/2 cup shredded coconut
  • 7-10 pitted dates
  • 1 tbsp cacao

Directions:

  1. Add oats, coconut, cacao and 3-4 dates to a food processor or high-speed blender, pulse until dates are evenly mixed
  2. Continue to add the dates until your desired texture is reached. You may need all of them, you may not… this depends on the gooeyness of your dates
  3. Top on your Banana Soft Serve or smoothie bowl, or Jules Fuel, or just pour some Vanilla Date Almond Milk over it in your favourite bowl and call it a day.

Miso Sweet Potato Glory Bowl of Goodness | (highly addictive dressing)

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There’s something SO satisfying about eating a meal out of a bowl.

Plus, making this will turn you into a left-over magician.

Anytime I make a Glory Bowl/Buddha Bowl, I make a lot of everything. This makes it difficult not to eat healthy for the rest of the week.

So, go crazy with the cooking amounts then enjoy easy left-overs ready to stuff into a wrap to-go, add to salads, or make into another sweet bowl of goodness.

This dressing. OMG.

It never fails to impress. I’ve nailed down the right amounts of these amazing ingredients, and created one of the best sauces for any kind of bowl.

Other ideas for it? Only add a tablespoon of water to make it into a dip OR add 3/4 cup of water and make it into a salad dressing. Seriously. SO GOOD.

This is a perfect option for a vegan dinner party. Lay out all of the ingredients and get everyone to make art in their bowls. Bonus? The non-vegans will feel completely satisfied, and realize that vegans do eat more than just lettuce and carrots 😉

Benefits:

~ Whole grains are packed with soluble fibre, minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Because they’re packed with the goods, they reduce the risk of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some forms of cancer. They’re a great option to fill up on to keep your weight in check. It’s best when you soak them before cooking to reduce the phytic acid, and begin the sprouting process. This makes it much easier for your body to digest and assimilate the nutrients in the grain.

~ Miso is a fermented form of soy, rice or barley. This is GREAT because the more feremented foods we consume, the better. Feremented foods are highly beneficial for your gut, and the good bacteria in your intestinal flora. Surprisingly, 9 out of 10 of our human cells are bacteria, and only 1 out of 10 is human! So, it’s extremely imporant to keep you bacterial intestinal flora happy. Fermented foods do just that. What happens if they’re deprived, this can lead to gas, constipation, hormonal issues, PMS, chronic respiratory problems, high cholesterol, neurological problems, osteoporosis, low energy, weight gain… the list goes on.

~ Sweet potatoes of all varieties are high in vitamin C, A and manganese, plus were the staple of the longest living peoples in history, the Okinawans. They’re anti-aging because of their high antioxidant properties, and nutrient density!

Miso Sweet Potato Glory Bowl of Goodness

Serves: 6-8

Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

Bowl:

  • 2 cups of your favourite grain (brown rice, wild rice, quinoa, wheat berries or…)
  • 2 cups red or green lentils, rinsed
  • 3 sweet potatoes (get different colours if you can find them!), sliced into 1/4 inch rounds
  • 1 tsp each of salt and pepper
  • 4 cups (or more) arugula or spinach
  • raw veggies of choice, grated or spiralized (I use carrots, beets, zucchini, or red cabbage)
  • 1 cup green peas, cooked from frozen according to package (optional)
  • avocado slices (optional)

Miso Tahini Dressing:

  • 1/4 cup tahini
  • 1/4 cup miso paste
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tsp tamari
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup of water (or more depending on the consistency you like)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 415 degrees F
  2. Cook the grain according to package. Or check out the grain cooking chart below!
  3. Roast sweet potatoes: lay out rounds on parchment covered baking pan, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping once half-way
  4. Cook the lentils: For RED lentils ~ bring lentils plus 3 cups of water to a boil in your pot. Stir, then let simmer with lid slightly ajar for 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes to be sure they don’t over cook). For GREEN lentils ~ bring lentils plus 4 cups of water to a boil, then stir, then simmer 20 minutes.
  5. Grate or spiralize your raw veggies of choice
  6. Blend the Miso Tahini Dressing: Add all dressing ingredients to blender or food processor. Blend until smooth
  7. Make art in your bowl! Pack it with the rice, lentils, raw veggies, sweet potatoes and arugula, then drizzle the dressing all over!

 

Cucumber Cups with Almond Lime Ginger Butter

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Simple and flavourful. Perfect for your next canapé party.

Because you throw those all the time, right?

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These little cucumber cups are wayyyy too easy to make.

If you need to throw something together quickly and impress some taste buds, look no further.

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The crispy, fresh cucumber with the creamy, smooth almond lime ginger butter is a FANTASTIC contrast and a surprise burst of flavour.

The butter is a bit like thai peanut sauce, but has more of a tangy punch.

Crunchy

Creamy

Fresh

Easy

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Benefits:

Cucumbers are super hydrating and packed with vitamins and minerals. Eat the green skin people! The anti-inflammatory flavonol, fisetin, plays an important role in brain health. The antioxidants will combat disease, and the B vitamins will help lower stress.

Miso is a fermented food, which means it will do wonders for your gut bacterial health. Miso (and other fermented foods like kombucha, sauerkraut, and kimchi) will help restore the beneficial probiotics in your intestine, which then will improve mood, digestion, absorption, immunity and reduce risk for many diseases.

Carrots as most of us know are very high in beta-carotene which is then converted to Vitamin A in the liver, which will help your vision. It’s also converted into an antioxidant, which combats disease and helps oxidized cells, therefore, slows down aging and helps the skin. So, eat them up!

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Cucumber Cups with Almond Lime Ginger Butter

Serves: 6-8

Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 long english cucumbers
  • 1 large carrot, grated
  • 2 green onions, chopped thinly
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Almond Lime Ginger butter:

  • 2 tbsp tahini
  • 4 tbsp almond butter
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp ginger powder

Directions:

  1. Slice cucumber discs 1/2 inch thick. Then spoon out the middle to create a cucumber cup (don’t scoop all the way through).
  2. Make almond lime ginger butter: Blend all ingredients together (mini food processor works best)
  3. Place a dollop of the ‘butter’ into the cucumber cups
  4. Sprinkle each cucumber cup with grated carrot, sesame seeds and green onion.

**Note: The almond lime butter can be made into a sauce by adding water until desired consistency. This will make an amazing ‘Glory Bowl’ dressing!  Alternatively make it into a dip by adding a bit of water and 1/2 of a zucchini !

Spinach Gomae | Vegan | Oil-Free

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Sometimes I just look at a bag of greens and am overcome with the feeling of ‘get in ma belly’!

Don’t we all have that feeling after the Holidays?

img_3244By the way, HAPPY 2017!

It always feels like this is the time to detox and cleanse the temple with a mountain of greens. But, how to get them all in?

There’s so many ways… juice them, blend them, mega-salad them, stir-fry them, steam them…

Gomae-ing them is one of my favourite ways to get through a massive bag of pop-eye’s secret weapon.

Just the other day I found the biggest bag of spinach I’ve ever seen at our neighbourhood grocery store. It just sat there saying “gomae it to me!”, so I did.

Then, I called up some friends to come help roll up some vegan sushi with avocado, cucumber, yam fries, green onion, sprouts and mango.

This gomae is great to make ahead of time, because it’s yummy cold!

Boil

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Cool

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Strain

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Squeeze

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Mix in sauce and voila!

The key to gomae is to make sure the liquid from blanching the spinach is outta there. A liquid-y gomae is nobody’s friend.

After a few simple steps of boiling water, blanching spinach, draining and pressing it with a cloth or paper towel, you will have the spinach every gomae loves.

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Benefits:

~ Spinach is actually packed with plant protein. Greens have a lot more protein that everyone thinks. We can easily get all the protein we need (which is only about 10% of our daily diet), from a vegan diet without even thinking about it! Because of the meat and dairy industries bombarding us with protein myths, we have a huge misconception and fear of becoming protein-deficient. The only way this would happen is if we were starving ourselves. And on the other end of the spectrum, too much protein is stored in fat cells, contributes to the onset of a variety of diseases, like cancer, osteoporosis, heart disease and impaired kidney function. So, stop worrying about protein, and start asking yourself about the nutrient quality and amount of fibre in each of your meals:)

~Miso is fermented! Yay! Eating a fermented food should be a part of each day. Fermented foods are packed to the brim with probiotics. This means your intestinal flora (in your gut), otherwise known as your second brain, will be healthy and happy. This will boost your immunity, improve your digestion and help balance out your good intestinal bacteria.

~ Sesame seeds are packed with copper (helps with rheumatoid arthritis), magnesium (for respiratory health), calcium (to prevent osteoperosis) and zinc (immunity boosting). 15385417_375964736077400_2515599090399789729_o

Serves: 4-6

Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • Large bag of spinach
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds (black or golden) for garnish

Sauce:

  • 1 tbsp miso paste
  • 1/2 cup tahini
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp mirin (or organic cane sugar)
  • A bit of water to thin the sauce out

Directions:

  1. Blanch spinach: bring large pot of water to a boil. Fill up your sink with cold water. When water comes to a boil, put a handful of spinach in there until soft (30 seconds to a minute). Scoop out spinach with a scoop colander, and put it into the cold water sink. Do this until all of your spinach is blanched. Then remove the spinach with the colander and squeeze out liquid. It helps to do this with a tea towel or paper towel.
  2. Make sauce: add all sauce ingredients to a food processor and blend (alternatively add miso paste with a bit of water to a bowl and mix with whisk into liquid-y paste, then mix in the rest of the sauce ingredients to form the sauce)
  3. Toast sesame seeds: heat pan to low-medium, then add in the sesame seeds. Toast for 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently.
  4. Mix spinach with sauce, then top with toasted sesame seeds.15492396_10209845985459844_2862320625715324248_n

 

 

Apricot Butternut Squash Lentil Loaf | Vegan | Oil-Free | Salt-Free

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With Christmas is just around the corner, the best way to show your love to your family and friends is through their taste buds.

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Welcome, lentil loaf.

It’s sweet and savoury, packed with plant nutrients, and a mouth-watering replacement for the usual meaty main on the plate.

Roasted butternut squash, nutritional yeast, flax meal and oat flour hold this baby together, and a maple-y, molasses glaze tops it right off!

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Who says Christmas has to be about guilty indulgence? This lentil loaf will benefit your bod, yet taste comforting and decadent.

Impress your family with a vegan main for Christmas dinner. Be a rebel and switch up the tradition 😉

You can make this ahead of time and throw it into the freezer once it’s cooled. Just de-thaw by letting it sit in room temperature for at least 1 hour (or in a pool of warm water in the sink for 30 minutes), then bake again at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes or so.

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Benefits:

–Lentils are one of the most healthy ingredients in the world. They’re packed with antioxidants, lower cholesterol and have anti-inflammatory effects. Eating these morsels and any other plant foods help protect the skin and ward off wrinkles too.

–Butternut squash is low in fat, high in fibre and high in beneficial plant carbohydrates. Plus it does wonders for immunity, and bone health.

–Apricots protect against free radical damage and inflammation. They also help your eyesight with all that vitamin A.

–Salt-free and Oil-free! Salt leads to water retention, which leads to bloating, a puffy face, and water weight. Go without it for a week and see if you notice a difference! Oil is a fat, packed with calories, and zero fibre. Even if it is said to be ‘health promoting’, it is still a processed ingredient that will aid in weight gain.

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Serves: 8-10

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Loaf:

  • 1 cup green lentils uncooked
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
  • 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
  • 1 cup butternut squash, chopped in 1 cm cubes
  • 1 cup carrot, grated
  • 1 cup apple, grated
  • 1 sweet onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/4 cup vegetable broth (or water)
  • 8 dried apricots, diced
  • 3 tbsp flax meal
  • 1/2 cup oat flour
  • 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
  • 6 sprigs-worth of fresh thyme, de-stemmed
  • 1 tbsp oregano
  • 1 tsp tarragon
  • Dash of pepper

Glaze:

  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup  ketchup
  • 2 tbsp dijon mustard

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F
  2. Cook lentils according to package
  3. Spread pumpkin seeds and walnuts on cookie sheet, then toast in the oven for 8 minutes
  4. Turn oven up to 350 degrees F
  5. Roast butternut squash for 20 minutes
  6. While squash is roasting, heat a pot to medium heat
  7. Oil-free sautéing time. Add onions to pot, and stir until you see browning/caramelization on the bottom (about 5 minutes). Then add garlic and saute for another 30 seconds. Add 1/4 cup vegetable broth (or water) to deglaze the pot. The onions and garlic should have a brown tinge to them
  8. Add carrots, celery, apple, tarragon, oregano and black pepper to pot. Let simmer 10 minutes
  9. In food processor, blend 1/2 cup of the roasted butternut squash with 3/4 cup of the cooked green lentils. Once blended smooth, add in flax meal, nutritional yeast, oat flour, and thyme. Blend until smooth again
  10. Transfer blended mixture to the pot. Add pumpkin seeds, walnuts and apricot. Mix together well
  11. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper (leave some out along edges so you can use it as handles to pull out loaf when it’s done)
  12. Press loaf mix evenly into the pan
  13. Make the glaze: Mix together all ingredients in small food processor, or in a small sauce pan on low heat (this will help the molasses mix together)
  14. Use spatula to spread the glaze over the loaf evenly
  15. Bake for 45-50 minutes in the 350 degree F oven
  16. Let cool 5 minutes, then move from the pan onto a cooling rack.
  17. Enjoy with your favourite sides! Vegan mashed potatoes coming soon!

Play by play:

Toastimg_3282 Simmerimg_3283 Grateimg_3284 Roast & BLENDimg_3286

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Miximg_3291 Pressimg_3292

Then Glaze & Bake!